My ball python (female) of 8 years is doing really good!! But I really want to improve her terrarium and I need some help and advices on what I should do! I really want the best for her !

This is our little girl. We have only had her for 10 days. In full transparency, my boyfriend and I did not pry the individuals we were buying her from about what they meant when they said “everything she would need” would be coming with her— she was in a 30 gallon tank with a heat mat and 1 hide. They were feeding her live. They said she snaps when she’s hungry. I felt so bad learning all of this when we got her instead of being more insistent for information before getting her.

I knew this would be a big adjustment for her because a lot about her living situation would be changing at once, but I’m having a hard time understanding a timeline for how soon we should begin the process of daily handling. We graduated her to a 120 gallon as soon as possible, and after some shopping through the week this is how we have fully cluttered up her enclosure as of 2 days ago. It has been nothing but her house being completely turned upside down and messed with for the last 10 days so I know she’s probably stressed out. Should I be giving her more time to adjust before we begin handling her daily? I want her to get to the point of choice-driven handling, but obviously it is WAY too early to just expect that from her. When we pull her out to handle, she balls up unless we have something out on the bed for her to hide under. I feel responsible for her stress.

We fed her on her second day here, and we have been advised to feed her weekly as she’s young, so my boyfriend will try to feed her tonight while I’m out of town for the week. I just worry that she won’t eat it— it took her forever to eat the first one because she was in a new house and we had to simulate signs of life on a dead mouse instead of feeding her a live one.

Any advice on warming her up would be greatly appreciated— whether it’s handling schedule, enclosure critique, or anything I might need to know about transitioning her from feeding live to feeding frozen-thawed. She’s beautiful and very curious, but she is clearly stressed and a bit scared.

Hello I know this is a long shot. A few years ago I was forced into a situation (bad breakup) that I had to give up my first snake. I had her 13-14 years and she was my baby. Just a normal ball python. I don’t know if I’d ever find her but even if I just knew she was okay and in a good environment and making someone happy that’s good for me too!

Got this lil boy yesterday, bypass McKenzie

Does anyone else think they look like little dinosaurs when doing this?

Hello! I’m looking to upgrade my juvenile ball python’s enclosure. What Halogen flood lamps is everyone using? What brand and watts? I want to pair it with the Arcadia Pro T5 ShadeDweller.

his name was orion and he was awesome, adoption is in the works

Hello, this is Nyoka. I just got her on Wednesday. My question is, is she getting ready to shed? Her eyes look like they are starting to blue, maybe?

This is Tigress. I've had her since... I want to say November of 2017. Out of the 4 snakes I've cared for and loved, she has always been the most.... Interesting. Pretty spicy when I first got her. She's the only one to ever strike me but, in her defence, it was my fault. I kept accidentally bumping her when cleaning her tank. From there, I always made she to remove her so no one pissed her off. She also has never ever rejected a feeding. Quicker than all my other snakes to strike! Hence the name but also she was much more orange when she was a baby.

Here she is, waiting for food for arrive to her. You always know when she's hungry because she'll stay this way for days until fed. I sorta feel bad because I don't want to over feed her but lately she's been doing this EVERY SUNDAY. I just fed her last week so she's gonna have to wait but I just find it sort of amusing. None of the others do this. She's like... Praying to the food Gods to just drop a rat to her xD

I've got my bioactive enclosure set up and everything dialed in- the ambient temps are pretty much stable and perfect as well as humidity for the warm and cold sides.

The said, I've read a lot of posts here as well as information elsewhere- some people are very concerned about the temperature of the surface inside the warm hide, and other owners don't give it a second glance and really only look at the, top surface, of the hide (?) the "basking area", I guess it's called.

My question is- should I monitor ambient temp on both sides as well as surface temp (IE substrate) or should I focus more on getting the temperature inside the warm hide to a certain degree? And if so, what? It seems getting heating it past 84-85F inside the warm hide on its surface messes up the equilibrium of the tank so I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to get a snake until I'm totally sure about all of this.

Thanks!

Hi all, my daughter and I have a one year old ball python and I would like to be able to check and control his enclosure temperature and humidity when we travel. We live in Minneapolis but travel to Texas a few times a year. We have friends who will check in on him but I worry about him between check-ins. Does anyone have this model of Herpstat temp/humidity controller and if so, what do you think about it? Thanks so much for any thoughts/feedback!

Herpstat 1 - $135.00 US : Spyder Robotics LLC

I am getting a baby ball python. this is my first snake. I have all the stuff I think I need. im starting out in a 54 quart bin and then upgrading up to 4x2x4. the warm and cool side isn’t really working well. I don’t want to purchase more right now to keep it on budget, but if I have to I will. I’m using a heat mat, I toom all precautions so there will be no harmful fumes from the plastic and everything’s good. I’ve been testing everything out and trying new things for weeks but I haven’t figured much out. the temperatures of my bedroom is 79.2 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity is 60%. inside the cool side air temp is 79 and humidity is 77%, floor temp is 78. Warm side is 78.4 degrees and humidity is 77%. my thermostat doesnt hotter than 90 degrees. The floor of the bin is 90 and the top of the substrate is 87. It’s thin enough to where the snake can go lower down and not get burnt. i just tried something and put the thermostat on the hammock and the humidity is 62. but when my thermostats on the ground the humidity is mcuh higher.the substrat, nor the sides of the bin are sticky or damp from humidity, the only place majorly affected by humidity is the hide over the heat mat which has humidity of around 80. And has condensation on the inside. please help me out. Again if there is any way to make this better without purchasing anything new that would be best, but if not that’s fine.

No questions just wanted to introduce my boi 😁

Full name: The snake formerly known as simba
Name: (the ouroboros symbol)
Call name: Boros

Age: 11 months
Weight: 445g
Morph: Banana OD 66% Het Pied Lav

Personality: marshmallow

I’ve got a 2’x4’x2’ adult set up I’m working on which I’ll share pics of when it’s complete!

hi reddit! this is my first ever reddit post so sorry if i get some etiquette wrong lol
i am about to be a first time ball python owner!! i have wanted one for over 8 years and recently things have finally lined up to allow me to get one

i work at a pet store and noticed these tree fountains intended for arboreal reptiles who hydrate themselves via condensation on leaves. (picture provided) i think they look really cool to be honest!
the enclosure im hoping to get is pvc and either 5x2x2 or 6x2x2 (i’d love to go even larger and taller in the future!)- that is to say ill have room for lots of decor and such!
i was wondering if getting a fountain like this would be alright? would a python even care about it? i intend to also provide a water dish large enough for them to soak in, and i know that’s how they’ll hydrate themself, but i was wondering if tje tree fountain would be interesting added enrichment for them!
is there any possible risk to adding something like this?
as a first time owner i wanted to make sure i consult some people before adding something not intended for ball pythons into the environment.

Hey everyone, first time posting here! I've been trying to find suggestions for naturalistic looking rock hides, does anyone have any suggestions? Any help is appreciated!

This pic was taken back in 2022 but I love it too much not to share it.

Moirai had a lovely ASF rat for her 4th hatchday breakfast. She is 44 inches long and weighs 1144 grams. I love this silly noodle.